Happy 2nd Birthday Dodger!!!

I can't believe Dodger is already 2!! But in some ways I can't believe he just barely turned 2, if that makes any sense at all. He can talk so good and is so smart that he seems older than he really is to me.

He is so sweet and loves to give big hugs and kisses.
He loves to cuddle with mom and rock-a-bye with daddy.
He still has a binki but we are planning on taking it away soon, probably after we get back from SLC in a few weeks.
He loves his ni-nights and wants take ALL of them everywhere with us, which usually consists of 2 big ones and 3 tiny ones. I can usually talk him into only take 1 tiny ni-night.
He has all of his teeth except for his eye teeth, and I'm pretty sure he's getting all 4 of them right now at the same time... poor kid.
He loves his grandmas and grandpas and always wants to go and see them.
He loves to play with his cousins and asks for them all the time.
He goes to nursery but only if one of us stays in there with him the whole time. And it usually ends up being Andy.


On to the birthday festivities...

I wanted to have another big party for him this year, so we decided to cook dutch oven for both of our families and have them all over for dinner. Since we don't have a very done yard yet we had it at Dodger's Grandma & Grandpa Black's house. They were great hosts and everything looking so nice!

Dodger's birthday started out with daddy staying home from work to spend some extra time with him. We just hung out and played together. Then Grandma & Grandpa Black brought their present over early before his party. They gave him his first bike! He was so excited. It's a little big for him now, but he'll grow into it. After he rode his bike around for a little while we went in for some lunch and then nap time.



While Dodger was napping Andy and Kade peeled and cut up all of the potatoes for the party. We ended up doing about 25 lbs of potatoes and 25 lbs of chicken. Then I woke Dodger up a little early from his nap so we could go swimming with my family.


Andy kept Bronx with him so I could spend some special time with just Dodger at the pool. It was so fun, we went down the big slide together and he was able to jump in to me with out another baby in my arms.



I tried to get him to go off the diving board but he just wanted to stand on the end and bounce. I think if Andy was in the water he would jump to him.


Carter had no problem jumping in to Jeff.


Carter & Dodger. These guys are pretty good little buddies.





After swimming we hurried home and got ready so we could go and set things up for the party. The theme for the party was Cookies & Milk. I had so much fun putting it all together.
Andy and David grilled all of the chicken, and Andy cooked the potatoes. We had everyone bring a salad and I made the dessert which was cookies of course. I ended up making about 20 dozen cookies when it was all said and done. We had so many left over!



My invitations aren't professional by any means, but I think they turned out OK.




I think I put the cookies out a little early because Dodger kept going and getting one. I think he had already eaten 1 cookie and 2 rice krispie treats before the party had even started.


We had rice krispie treats, oreo's, nutter butter's, snickerdoodles, coconut oatmeal, peanut butter blossoms & chocolate chip cookies. And we had chocolate and strawberry powder so you could make flavored milk. Chocolate milk is Dodger's favorite thing right now so the theme worked perfect for him.






I didn't have any activities planned for the kids except to run wild. And I think they did that pretty good.

Brighton, Kennedi, Stetson, Kade, Trace


Billie, Jeff, Carter, Chelsa, Kenny


Jessie, Dad, Levi, Tony, Kerry, Logan, Avery, Megan


My happy, chubby baby.


Stetson , Carter, Derek, Brighton and Dodger all playing on the tramp. Grandma & Grandpa's tramp had broken a few weeks earlier, but luckily the new mat made just in time for Dodger's party.


Suzie, Michelle, David and Brielle

In sticking with my theme, I made Dodger a giant Oreo shaped cake. It turned out pretty cute.



He thought it was pretty awesome when everyone was singing Happy Birthday to him, he decided to join in with them and I think he ended up being the loudest one. This is now his favorite song and I have to sing it to him at nap time and bedtime.



All of his cousins wanted him to really get dirty with his cake and they kept telling him to put his face in it. The closest he would get to doing that was to kiss it until one of his cousins pushed his face down in it, and then he got a little sad and the cake fun was over.





I think Carter may have ended up messier than Dodger. He kept sneaking licks of the cake when he thought no one was watching.


Bronx really enjoyed the party, as long as he was right here on my hip. :)

Next, it was onto the presents. We got him a pushing lawn mower that blows bubbles. He loves it! He pushes it all over the yard and wants to take it everywhere with us.


He got lots of other neat toys including: sandbox toys from Michelle & David, a backpack (he call's it his purse) from Suzie & Steve, a toy power drill from Grandpa and Grandma Billie, a bike and gum from Grandma & Grandpa Black, crayons and a coloring book from Kenny & Amber, shorts and flip-flops from Jeff & Chelsa, and a train set from Tony & Kerry. Everyone spoiled him, and this was even after we told everyone they didn't need to bring gifts. He loves all of his new toys and plays with them all the time.





Giving Grandpa Johnson some major loves.




Me and my Birthday boy!!

We had such a fun day. It's nice that his birthday is so close to a holiday because we usually have lots of family here to celebrate with us. Thanks everyone for helping to make his day so special!